The HIV crisis in Africa is certainly very real, and the disease is leaving many victims in its wake. Not only are patients dying every day, but they leave behind widows and children who find themselves in a daily struggle to survive and care for their families. ERAF, or the Erelu Adebayo Foundation, is an NGO that serves to meet the needs of many of Nigeria’s underprivileged citizens in a real and lasting manner, including many who have been devastated by the HIV crisis. Consisting of board members Chairman Erelu Angela Adebayo, Dr. Anita Kemi Dasilva-Ibru, Mrs. Ronke Okusanya, Dr. Olusola Bob Egbe, and Programme Officer Agatha A. Johnpaul, the organization works to provide immediate assistance, as well as to offer skills that can provide long term sustainability and self-sufficiency.
While ERAF addresses those left behind in the wake of the AIDS crisis in many ways, it is important to address that the organization also provides care and service to patients suffering from HIV as well. When parents are HIV positive, the organization offers those in the latter stages of the virus hospice care that includes food, pain medication, and comfort care. For family members, services often include resources such as food and clothing to meet their immediate needs, as well as a wide range of services to help meet the long term needs of women and children who will be affected by the loss of the family member who is HIV+.
ERAF serves to meet the needs of family members losing an HIV positive parent in many ways. Immediate needs such as food, clothing, and shelter are typically taken care of, but the organization furthers its work to ensure self-sufficiency. This work includes education, job training, placement in orphanages with adoption programs, and much more. The work conducted by ERAF is impressively varied, and the organization works to meet the needs of these vulnerable populations in both an immediate and lasting way.